State Convention—Relation of Soil to Water. 321 
condition in water. And no matter what may be the nature of the 
mass of material brought into the soil; whether by natural agen¬ 
cies from the atmosphere, or by artificial means as fertilizers, none 
of it is available as plant-food, until it is prepared in water, and 
presented to the roots in the presence of water. Nor does the ser¬ 
vices of water in the vegetable kingdom end here. Rising through 
the roots into the plant, it becomes the vital current upon which 
the life and growth of the plant depends. What marvelous 
wisdom in this bountiful provision of nature. Water, after having 
scoured the heavens and the earth for material, and after having elab - 
orated from this heterogenious mass in the soil, what was necessary 
for organic purposes, rises charged with the elements of organic life 
through the minutest rootlets, and in mute obedience to the law r s 
of the vegetable kingdom, passes from cell to cell, furnishing every¬ 
where through the plant, the tissue-forming forces, the ele¬ 
ments of their work. And now, having done this, having yielded 
up its hard-earned solutions to vital forces, it is brought under the 
influence of sun-light, and passes off through the leaves as vapor, to 
commence anew its atmospheric work, and to return to the soil as 
before. 
If we could command the condensation of vapor in the atmos¬ 
phere, and bring it down to the soil in the shape of rain when we 
please, and in such quantities as we need, we could almost secure 
the quality, quantity, and certainty of our crops. But nature has 
reserved this right to herself, and calls upon us to make the best 
possible use of what she sends, by putting the soil in a condition 
to receive and retain it, subject to the demands of vegetation. The 
relation, then, of the soil to water, is one of the first questions in 
agriculture. 
In considering this question, allow me, in the first place to im¬ 
press this fact upon your minds, namely: That the soil is not an ag¬ 
gregation of inorganic and organic substances merely, but it is a com* 
biuation of matter possessing peculiar physical properties, such as 
the power to absorb and the power to retain atmospheric water, and 
atmospheric air, and select as by elective affinity from what dis¬ 
solved and gaseous matter they may contain, the elements of its 
fertility. These properties are—if you will allow me to use the 
terms in this connection—the vital forces of the soil; forces by 
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